Democrats Point to Political Issues

DAVID ESPO

Published 9:00 pm, Sunday, April 21, 2002

AP Special Correspondent

Seven months after terrorist attacks forced them to mute their criticism, Democratic congressional leaders are urging their rank and file to highlight differences with Republicans and the Bush administration on Social Security, Medicare, education and the environment.

The effort includes a new slogan _ "Securing America for all our families" _ that is meant to accuse Republicans of catering to the privileged few.

The project is the result of a cooperative campaign-season effort by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri and involved work by some of the party's most prominent pollsters. The two leaders are expected to provide details to members of their rank-and-file this week _ and to give them laminated pocket-sized cards that outline a series of "Democratic values."

They begin with a fresh statement that Democrats are committed to winning the war on terrorism, then move on protecting Social Security, cutting prescription drug costs and providing Medicare prescription drug coverage for every senior.

By contrast, Democrats say Republicans intend to cut Social Security benefits _ a charge Republicans deny _ and provide prescription drug coverage for only 6 percent of seniors. House Republicans are drafting prescription drug legislation, but have released few details.

The Democratic talking points do not mention the cost of their proposals, and do not discuss how they would be paid for. Nor do they mention Bush's tax cuts, and the Republican drive to make them permanent.

Erik Smith, a spokesman for Gephardt, said the proposals are "not a legislative outline, these are values and ideas. … We don't have to fill in both sides of the ledger at this point," he said. But in a jab at the return of budget deficits since Bush took office, he said Democrats were "one party in Congress that has a record of fiscal discipline."

In rebuttal, one Republican accused Democrats of stealing their slogan. Rep. J.C. Watts, the fourth-ranking member of the GOP leadership, said 'Securing America's Future' "has been the official name of the Conference's communication strategy since 1999."

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," he added. "But I'd rather Democrats imitate our votes, not just our slogans," he said.

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The new effort by Daschle and Gephardt comes against a backdrop of fresh GOP polling suggesting Republican support is declining on several key issues, even those on which they outrank the Democrats.

The survey, taken by pollster David Winston for a political group backed by Watts, shows that Democrats are favored on handling education issues by eight points, rather than the tie that was found in January. Democrats held a 49-35 edge on Social Security, a decline of four percentage points in the GOP position in the last poll.

Republicans continued to hold an advantage on two other issues, taxes by a margin of 47-37 and defense/terrorism by 58-25. But their margin was smaller than in January, according to the survey. The decline on the issue of defense and terrorism was seven percentage points. On tax cuts it was four percentage points.

Like other pollsters, Winston also found that Bush's approval ratings had been drifting slightly lower from the stratospheric levels that followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks. He attributed that to a shift in opinion among Democrats.

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In addition, the survey found Democrats pulling even with Republicans in hypothetical matchups for congressional seats. The principal gain was among conservative Democrats.